Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 322 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

—- —_- as colorless—tbus stood Red Reed, the assassin, as rigid as if turned to stone! The dastardly deed was done! No sound came to the ears of the murderer to indicate that any human beings had been awakened by the brief struggle. Thus, for a minute, stood Red Reed; his hand and clothing, bis very soul stained red with the life blood of bis employer. Then he caught up the stone that be bad brought from the river, dipped it in the fresh blood, and then placed it in the hand of the murdered man; closing the death-chilling fingers about it, The Crimson Coyotes. - ooo — ——- > ee where to be seen. bolt, and the windows also were fastened on the inside, Clarence Coleman opened the door, and pared down Commerce street toward the ridge, and then up toward the Main Plaza: I — — — — -_--~ _—- e+ —— —- -_—— + —— oo He examined the room, but no one was any- | permit his mind to be tortured by thoughts of / such a contemptible coward, The back door was secured by a heavy iron | Was he not a strong and fearless man? Was he not an honest man, who need fear | nothing from such a dastard? yet he could discover no one who was walking | singly, all the pedestrians being in pairs, or in gangs, Greatly mystified, the young man closed and relocked the door. He returned to his desk, | | | And was he not blessed, as but few men on earth are, with the Jove of as pure and in- nocent a maiden as could be found on earth? He paused a while, as he reached the spot where he had passed the last few blissfu! mo- ments with Nora Norrington, and his face was a study, His expression for a few moments was almost He then darted to the door of the apartment, | rested his head upon his hands, his elbows on feminine, then hard, cold and revengefu) it be- jerking a revolver from bis belt. But there came no sound to his ears, He swallowei another gulp or two of the brandy; and stood, while his breath came and went, in labored gasps. The flit of bats’ wings beneath the veranda roof, near the window of the library, caused the miscreant to spring backward, and trem- ble as if stricken with an ague-fit; while in- stantly, the snap of the lock, as he cocked his revolver, sounded with startling distinctness through the rooms. Red Reed sprung about, and brought his weapon to an aim at the doorway, asif he ex- pected a witness to his cowardly crime to ap- pear. Then a low, taunting laugh burst from bis lips—a look of bravado and desperation tak- ing the place of fright and apprebension—and he gave a hurried, but scrutinizing inspection to the room, placing the chairs once more in position. This done, the dastard stole on his return to the parlor; but making a sudden halt, as if struck with a new idea, for he tapped his fore- head with his knuckles, He strode out upon the veranda, but kept himself concealed by the vine-covered support- ing posts, and guzed up the river toward the city; both along the border of the timber, and the river road, where the view was not ob- structed by mesquites. But not a human being was in sight, and a still reigned around the Norrington Man- sion, Most dreadful were the expression and ap- pearance of the blood-stained assassin, as he stood there, on the veranda of the beautiful home, from which he had banished happiness, and which he had filled with horror and un- speakable anguish, But bis hell-born work was not yet done. He bad projected another fiendish deed, and be had no time to spare, Returning, in hot baste, he caught up the senseless form of poor Nora Norrington in his arms, leaving the print of his gore-smeared hand wherever he touched ber snowy costume —leaving the blood of the father upon the daughter—*the murderer clutching tbe angelic child of his victim in his vile embrace, before that victim was yet cold in death! Could there be any more inbuman, more hell- ish act? Most certainly, if Red Reed possessed a heart it must have been one of stone; for he carried Nora into the very room where lay ber mur- dered father, and seated the senseless maiden in a Chair, in such a position that, when she re- covered and opened her eyes, tbe first object that met ber view, would be the gory corpse! Most assuredly the wretch’s hatred of Nora Norrington must have been’ uppermost in his mind at that moment. Only an instant more did Red Reed linger be- neath the roof be bad so terribly cursed; for he feared the return of Clarence Coleman at any moment, and he could bardly suppress a yell of exultation when he contemplated the terrible tableau which he bad —— for his detested rival—one that would furnish proofs, and con- victing proofs, against Clarence, as the robber and murderer of bis employer, Norman Nor- rington! CHAPTER VL HE CAME TOO LATE, Ropney REED ‘ad not been gone five min- utes from tbe office of his ren when Clarence Coleman became aware that there was a strange and unaccountable noise in the ad- joining room, It was the horned-toad jumping against dif- ferent articles in the room, as Reed had been confident the reptile would, when he placed it within the door. Clarence at once took his lamp, and went into tiie reception-room, where, to bis great amaze- ment, he saw the key suspended to the chan- celier, He glanced at the lock of the door, and saw that the key he had left there was no longer in its place. . Taking the suspended key, he found it to be the one belonging to the lock. Examining the door, be found it to be fastened as he had left it. Here was a mystery. Clarence decided that some one was in the room, or bad been there, Yet, it was unaccountable in what manner one could have left the room when the door was locked, and the only key to it swaying from the chandelier. the desk, and pondered deeply for some time, His reasoning eventually brought him to the conclusion spoken of in his words of warning, which he then wrote, and laid in a prominent | place upon his desk, The perplexity and wonder that bad been visible in his face vanished, as he set himself to his task of copying, with an air that was defiant and determined. He felt that there could be no doubt as to who it was, that had been in the reception-room since his arrival in the bank. He was as positive as though be had seen him, that it was Rodney Reed who bad hurled the stone that had laid him senseless at the feet of Nora Norrington; and, upon further reflec- tion, he believed that Reed had followed him, and that the villain must have furnished him- self with a duplicate key to the office. The throwing of the stone was the first act. Enatering the office, and suspending the key, was the second. What would be the third? After thus awakening suspicion against him, the scoundrel must know that any ‘‘ crooked- ness” he might contemplate afterward would be very difficult to accomplish. It indicated that Reed must be confident of his ability to carry out any criminal plot he might have formed, without any danger to bimself; or else, that he meditated some des- perate deed, and immediate flight after- ward, It was plain to Clarence that the infamous Villain was infatuated with Nora, or he would not act as he had done. He would not have flung the stone, had he not been excited to the borders of madness by jealousy. What further crime was it possible for the dastard to commit? There seemed to Clarence to be but one. He did not imagine for a moment that Reed would dare inflict personal barm upon bis em- ployer, or to commit such an atrocious act as the abduction of Nora. He did not entertain the idea that Rodney Reed was desperate enough to do such a thing. But, it was apparent that he did meditatea crime; and that crime, Clarence felt must be robbery. He would rob thesafe while Clarence had the keys, thus throwing the deed upon bis head and shoulders, This was terrible to think of! Could it be possible? lt did not seem so, unless the miscreant had means by which he could force tie safe, or blow it up. It was beyond his power to secure the combination. Clarence made up bis mind that he would re- veal Reed’s true character to his employer on the following day. Having thus decided, he finished his copying, and then sat thinking over the startling occur- rences of the evening, until he became justly in- furiated. He resolved to force Reed to either fight or fly—hence the warning which he wrote, to which we have before referred, and which was found on the desk afterward. Poor Clarence! Little dreamed he of the black cloud of dis- grace and despair that was descending ‘eo bim; but it was to be revealed to him in all its gloom and terror—alas! too soon, After writing the warning and securing the papers in bis breast-pocket, Clarence gave one scrutinizing glance around the two apartments, as if he could not bring himself to believe that he was alone in the banking-house. He then extinguished the light and passed out into the street—an inebriated party of men at the door of a drinking-saloon shouting for him to come and join them, and addressing him as ‘‘ Senor — rance,” thus proving that he was recog- nized, Clarence Coleman paid no attention to the night brawlers, but strode along on the east side of the Plaz:, toward the southern suburb of the city—on toward the most horrible scene, and to become involved in toe most horrible network of disgrace and dishonor that could | possibly be imagined. | On he went, through fields and amid mes- quites, and into the dark shades of the pecans toat bordered the beautiful banks of the San | Antonio river. Thus the young man walked, his head bowed and bis eyes fixed upon the round at his feet, though he saw it not; for is brain was filled with a whirl of thoughts and imaginings of the possible crime Rodney Reed might commit to dishonor and disgrace him, But Clarence Coleman was not one to long came as he thought of the cowardly assault that bad laid him senseless at the feet of his darling, and causing her also to faint in terror. Involuntarily the young man’s hand sought his knife for an instant, Little did he think that his bowie, in place of being in its sheath, was at that moment in the breast of bis employer, and had caused the death of the father of her whom he loved more than life! Clarence proceeded on, however, not wishing to keep Norman Norrington from his couch, should the old banker have remained up on his account, Through the garden he bastened, and sprung up the steps upon the rear veranda, He then walked lightly around to the front, where he had left bis employer smoking, some hours previous. He was not in the least surprised to find that Mr, Norrington was not in bis chair; he, there- fore, passed into the ball, and thence to the par- lor. There, he at once detected the odor of chloroform, and was filled with apprehension, But he passed on to the ey’ 4 The moon was now high in the heavens, and every object in the apartment was plainly re- vealed, First, he saw Nora Norrington, seated in a chair, facing him, and sustained in it by a silken scarf, which was tied around her body. Her head was bowed forward, her long hair partly vailing her face. Her arms hung limp; her hands lying listlessly in ber lap. Her lips were almost colorless, and her eyes — closed—her long lashes drooping down- ward. Clarence Coleman gazed in astonishment: the color leaving his face, his mouth agape, and his blood chilling in his veins with a nameless horror. At the first glance, be was the most startled manon earth; at the next, the most agonized. He realized that Nora was unconscious, that her ap arance was unnatural, that sometbing dreadful had happened! The corpse of the banker was not visible, as the desk was between him and it. The scent of chloroform was sickening. By an effort, that was almost superbuman, the young man threw off the enervating emotions that held himas in a vise, and staggered for- ward; the word ‘‘ Nora,” in a gasping whisper, bursting from his lips. But, as if all power of movement had been suddenly taken from him, Clarence Coleman became riveted in his tracks; bis form bent for- ward, his eyes glassy and gorak Bye from their sockets. For his gaze fell upon a horrible sight—the outstretched form of Norman Nor- riagbon. with the white, dead face upturned, and the silyer-handled bowie projecting from his breast! On the instant, Clarence recognized his own knife—ay, he could even read his name, the letters seeming to be magnified, and illumined by a hellish light—then, like the lightnings of the Mexique Gulf, thoughts tore through his seething brain, He knew that he had been too late; that bis rival, the dastardly Rodney Reed, was the assassin, and that the murderer had left proofs that might convict the innocent! CHAPTER VII. THE WARNING. Rep REeEp hastened from the house, through the gardens, finally gaining the timber, through the dark shades of which he rushed, at times gazing backward, with bated breath, every movement among the bushes caused by him- self seeming to him therapid approach of some vengeful pursuer. Suddenly the thougbt occurred to him to brace bis nerves with brandy. To his consterna- tion, however, he found that he had not his flask with bim. The wretch halted, Had he Jost the liquor while rushing through the undergrowth? He ODA most SHEEN Ys that this was the case, but he greatly feared that, in his excite- ment, be bad left the flask in the very room in which he bad committed his fearful crime! Red Reed was appalled at this possibility. After all bis planning and plotting, and com- mitting the deed be had long pontineplated-,- leaving a guilty trail for Clarence Coleman— had he been such en idiot as to drop a clew that would almost inevitably point to himself? For the flask, he remembered, bore a particular and Mmicoooks (E(0) ~~,